Our Most Memorable Summer Jobs

Dallas notables share stories about what they once did for a buck.

By told to Krista NightengaleFrom D Magazine July 2011

illustration by Eric Palma

Sugar Momma | Jane McGarryNBC5 Anchorwoman

I grew up in Anna, Illinois, population 4,800, and started working at the Dairy Queen as soon as I turned 16 for gas money. I had a baby-blue Mustang. Dairy Queen was the hot spot in town. People would go up and down Main Street and make the turn into Dairy Queen. It was the action spot.
My worst problem, though, was I had a habit of sneaking the brownies we used to make the Hot Fudge Brownie Delight.

I’ve always had a brownie problem. When I was pregnant with Michael, 17 years ago, I had gained 60 pounds. About three months after I delivered my son, Helen Bryant, who worked for the Dallas Morning News, wrote a column about seeing me go into Kathleen’s Art Cafe on Lovers Lane to buy brownies. That sort of humiliated me into going on a diet. So my brownie problem started in high school in Dairy Queen.

What I really liked about working there is that I knew the secret of how to make a really sick Blizzard, which I’d do by putting the chocolate dip on it. That was one of my favorite things, besides the brownies.